Duncan: Education Can Be Bipartisan

Gee, how many times have seen this story today?

House Repubs hate Obama.

Obama will look to work with House Repubs.

They can't agree on anything to work on.

Hey - how about education!

Ugh!!!

Education Secretary Arne Duncan is upbeat

Despite waking up to a political landscape now dominated by Republicans, Duncan – one of a handful of Obama administration cabinet members who actively campaigned for several Democrats – believes that education reform can be the great bipartisan issue, uniting the two feuding parties.

“Am I hopeful? Absolutely,” he told POLITICO. “Am I optimistic? Yes. Do I think it’s the right thing to do for children, for the country? Absolutely.”

Overhauling the nation’s public education system, including adjusting the law known as No Child Left Behind, is a “golden opportunity” to improve the quality of life for everyday Americans, he said.

“If we can do that work together through education, it actually might help to lessen some of those tensions in other areas as well,” said Duncan, who has put No Child Left Behind reform a top priority early next year. “Maybe our work together can help soothe some of those hurt feelings.”

During his post-election press conference Wednesday President Barack Obama echoed that sentiment. “I think everybody in this country thinks that we've got to make sure our kids are equipped in terms of their education, their science background, their math backgrounds to compete in this new global economy,” he told reporters. “And that's going to be an area where I think there's potential common ground.”

In years past, this appeal to bipartisanship on education might have worked.

But with Rand Paul and other "End the DOEers" in power now, I suspect this is somewhat less likely.

Hopefully Repubs decide giving Obama a renewal on NCLB is a bad idea and kill any attempt at it.

Same for RttT and any other federal education initiative.

I think any attempts at bipartisanship might end after the Repubs start barraging the White House with subpoenas and scandal stuff.

And that ought to start right about, uh, January 21st.

So Duncan can talk optimism all he wants.

He better hope he isn't targeted with a few subpoenas of his own over the fix he put in on the RttT jive.

Want to bet he knew EXACTLY who would win that money and who wouldn't?